Responsible management: Engaging moral reflexive practice through threshold concepts

YesIn this conceptual paper we argue that, to date, principles of responsible management have not impacted practice as anticipated because of a disconnect between knowledge and practice. This disconnect means that an awareness of ethical concerns, by itself, does not help students take personal responsibility for their actions. We suggest that an abstract knowledge of principles has to be supplemented by an engaged understanding of the responsibility of managers and leaders to actively challenge irresponsible practices. We argue that a form of moral reflexive practice drawing on an understanding of threshold concepts is central to responsible management, and provides a gateway to transformative learning. Our conceptual argument leads to implications for management and professional education

Complex Adaptive Systems as a Model for Evaluating Organisational Change Caused by the Introduction of Health Information Systems

This paper documents the preliminary development of a framework for evaluating organisational change processes during the implementation of an electronic nursing documentation system in residential aged care facilities. It starts with a brief outline of organisational change processes. This is followed by a more detailed exposition of the principles underlying complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory, where we explain how mathematical concepts can be used to illuminate qualitative research approaches. Finally we present some preliminary findings on the facilitators and barriers for the introduction of the electronic documentation system, explained with reference to the CAS theory, based on analysis of interviews with care staff members in a residential aged care facility. While there are clear benefits from electronic nursing documentation, we also identified significant risks, and possible unintended consequences, both positive and negative

Integrating communities of practice in technology development projects

Development projects usually benefit when expertise is drawn from diverse sources, including potential users. Orchestrating the involvement of disparate groups requires finding a balance between differentiation, when teams work separately, and integration, when groups meet to exchange knowledge. This paper argues that a "community of practice" perspective can help project managers achieve this balance, by drawing attention to the assumptions, interests, skills, and formal and tacit knowledge of the different groups involved. Using a case study as illustration, we show that integration can be achieved by ensuring that the developing technology is comprehensible to all groups concerned, and that it satisfies their various interests